


Khadgar and Anduin take Denny's

by sunlightsmarrow



Category: Warcraft (2016)
Genre: Anduin simply gives no fucks, Cops, Khadgar is an adrenaline junkie, LionTrust, M/M, Modern AU, Shooting, and he would literally die to hang out with khadgar, he's also a total idiot, minor homophobia (it's one line), or get in a fist fight in a denny's parking lot, photographer, they go to denny's, why haven't they made out in a denny's parking lot yet?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 10:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7311412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlightsmarrow/pseuds/sunlightsmarrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When newspaper intern Khadgar met Officer Anduin Lothar, he had a gun pointed at him.  Things only got better from there.  A one-shot that is honestly as ridiculous as it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Khadgar and Anduin take Denny's

**Author's Note:**

> The bad fics had to come eventually. This is literally a fragment of an idea.
> 
> Call this the My Immortal of this fandom. I'm proud to have written such trash. Time to go back to the actual, real story that I've actually somewhat planned.
> 
> This is essentially the unwanted child of the union of my brain and fingers.

The morning at Stormwind Elementary school was bright and sunny. It was far and away the largest school in the Elwynn County, and that made it the biggest target. Azeroth was getting more and more dangerous day by day with rabid idiots who got their hands on guns, got pissed off, and went around shooting people.

And sure, you can put in regulations for that, but until then, it’s simply a matter of time.

Anduin Lothar was preparing for when the time came. As were roughly sixty other people. The concept of a ‘live shooter drill’ becoming a quarterly thing was sad, but Elwynn County had put it in their budget for emergency services. Police, EMS, and firefighters were all there practicing for the day that some sack of shit gave up his will to live and wouldn’t go out without taking as many innocents with him as he could.

These sorts of things always made an appearance in the news, and so Khadgar had been sent by Medivh, his boss and the photo editor of Kirin Tor, the local newspaper, to take photos of what was going on. Khadgar being the intern that he was, jumped at the opportunity to take pictures of law enforcement in action, even if it were pretend.

After three safety briefings that said 1. No, you won’t get shot, 2. They’re only using one entrance for safety reasons, and 3. If shit starts going south, the code word is ‘murloc (the school’s mascot),’ they staged victims and the shooter and got started.

For safety purposes, those not ‘in play’ were to wear safety vests. No one told Khadgar this. His lack of proper safety equipment was useful for when he snuck in with the victims and the shooter, because then he could place himself where the action would be most intense. It would get him a good shot, he was sure.

The facilitator came around and okay’ed everyone, and then all hell broke loose.

The shooter only had blanks, but he ran through the halls, firing away for a good five minutes. 

But you see, Khadgar hadn’t actually heard a gun go off before. At the first blast, he nearly jumped out of his skin and hid himself in a little alcove. Every so often, he got bold and leaned over and took a shot, camera whirring as it flashed and focused. 

“Put your hands where I can see them,” came a voice. It was down the hall, rather far away. Law enforcement had stormed the building with the idea of finding the shooter and getting him in handcuffs. Khadgar heard the rustling of clothes and some screaming, and he had to chuckle to himself as one woman came out of a classroom limping and screaming. The police officer checking this hall, however, could yell louder than she could and he began to pat her down.

“Can you walk?”

She wailed, but Khadgar heard her continue to shuffle down the hall. The light was good now, as the clouds had just broken, and the wall of windows on the right side of the hall let the sun filter in. It was too pretty for a shooter drill, and Khadgar leaned out of his little alcove, Nikon leading the way, the strap straining against his neck--

“Show me your hands! Get on the ground, get on the ground right now!”

 _Holy fucking shit._ There was a goddamn flashlight being shone in Khadgar’s face and the police officer didn’t have a pistol. He had a fucking _rifle_ and it was pointed right at Khadgar’s chest and for a moment his mouth fell open and his eyes got huge.

“Get on the ground. Show me your hands! Drop your weapon and show me your hands!”

Khadgar did as he was told, gently lifting the camera from around his neck and laying belly down on the ground.

“Put your hands on your head and don’t fucking move.” 

Khadgar didn’t know that this wasn’t supposed to happen, but he was glad it did. From what he saw of the police officer, he was handsome, with an angular face and bright blue eyes. He straddled Khadgar’s legs and still managed to find a way to have him effectively pinned as he sat on the photographer’s right leg and patted him down.

At his waist, he hesitated.

“Wait, what--”

“Bang!” It was the shooter, and he yelled down the hall at Anduin.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” he muttered. 

“You’re down, Lothar.” Khadgar could hear the shooter laughing and he picked his head up. All of a sudden, this was a lot less scary.

“Go sit against the wall,” suggested Officer Lothar. “Kid. What the hell? Why weren’t you wearing a vest?”

“I was supposed to get one of those?” Kadgar carefully collected his camera and held it in his lap. He took aim and shot a photo of Lothar, face red and eyes barbaric as he sat ‘wounded.’

“You didn’t see the rest of--oh, whatever.” Lothar was honestly really gorgeous. The way that the sun hit his face and his tight uniform and the gun...well, the gun was intimidating but in a way added to the overall attractiveness. Khadgar felt safe next to the ‘dead’ officer.

“I didn’t know guns looked like this,” said Khadgar, stretching his legs out, waving the camera to indicate that it was the 'this' he was talking about, and getting a shot down the hall as EMTs rushed in. 

The only response he got from the firefighter was a blush, and Khadgar took another picture of him. Slowly but surely, the EMTs made their way down to Lothar and Khadgar.

“We heard there was an officer down,” jested one of the EMTs. “You get pinged in the ass, Anduin?”

The officer smiled at that. “No, Llane. This asshole got me killed.” 

The EMT swung around and looked at Khadgar. 

“What the hell were you patting down the Kirin Tor photographer for? I mean, I’ll give you some credit in choice of people to pat down, but still--”

“He’s not wearing a vest. He was in play.” Anduin Lothar laughed at the dazed expression on Llane’s face. “Sounds stupid. I was so convinced that his camera was a goddamn gun. And the shooter is a buddy of mine. Jesus.”

“So you’re dead?” Llane looked around to make sure he hadn’t missed anyone.

“Yeah.”

“Well, sit tight. The coroner isn’t coming, so you might as well be in the air conditioning until we reset.”

Khadgar got a nice shot of Llane’s ass, but not before Anduin caught him do it. Anduin couldn’t help but laugh at the intern. Llane ignored the laughing and wandered off to continue to do his job.

“What’s your name, kid?”

~~~

Medivh looked at the pictures that Khadgar had taken. One subject showed up much more than the others, and to Khadgar’s credit, the shots were good. Of course, there were pictures of the shooter moving down the hall, some law enforcement moving in various formations, EMTs triaging, and people being pulled from the building on a stretcher. 

With not a little irony, Medivh decided that the front page picture of the paper would be a picture of Officer Lothar’s bright blue eyes looking up at an EMT, the sun shining in his face almost like he’s a warrior from a far-off time.

~~~

At dinner a week after, Lothar watched Khadgar squirm and push roasted potatoes around his plate. 

“You got me on the front page of the paper.” It was like it was a punchline to a joke that Khadgar didn’t understand. Anduin had asked Khadgar out after the drill was over, and the photographer had made a stuttering reply that was definitely a ‘yes,’ but an unexpected one.

So here they were at Denny’s (Khadgar’s choice. It was the first thing that came out of his mouth) and Anduin had the good sense to order breakfast, because that’s what you do at a diner. Khadgar had gotten a proper entree like some sort of idiot. He literally opened the menu and ordered the first thing he saw because he was so nervous. He didn’t even like salmon.

And okay, this was the weirdest first date in history. Anduin had brought the paper from a week ago and Khadgar had to admit that objectively, he had taken a good picture. Everything was lined up just right, the light was beautiful. But it was too artsy for a goddamn _shooter drill._

The caption said something cheeky like “Officer Anduin Lothar is traiged by EMT Llane King.” They were actually shooting shit in that picture and Anduin looked too damn good to let disappear into undeveloped time.

Khadgar had never walked out on a date before in his entire life. A few people had walked out on him because he blurted something that made no actual sense, but that was back in high school when times were simpler and he was way more naive. But for his safety, he may have to make a clumsy exit. Had he left the stove on?

“Khadgar.” Anduin may have been screaming at him to put his hands up and get down on the floor for how badly the intern jumped. 

“Do you want to get out of here? I mean, you haven’t touched a thing, and I’m really not that hungry.”

Khadgar shoved a bite of potatoes in his mouth. He was wrong; they were fried, not roasted, and they were greasy and his stomach wasn’t about that right now. He made a face and Anduin waved over the server.

~~~

Outside in the Denny’s parking lot, it was dark and a single lamp cast an orange glow all around the nearly-empty parking lot. They leaned against Anduin’s car staring up into the sky.

“You know we interns don’t need to eat?” Khadgar attempted humor, but Anduin looked at him with guarded eyes. “It comes with being unpaid.”

Anduin snorted. “And yet you didn’t eat a damned thing.”

“Well,” Khadgar shoved his hands into his pockets and looked up into the stars briefly. “I guess I’m just…”

Anduin raised his eyebrows and touched Khadgar’s shoulder, forcing the young photographer to look at him. Khadgar looked very shy and a blush licked at his cheeks before he muttered something and shuffled his feet and stared at the lines in the parking lot.

Anduin nodded. His hand slipped from the slim shoulder and now it was his turn to stare at the stars as if they could give him an answer.

“In my line of work, there isn’t much time. You know? You hear about how even officers who have been fighting with their wives still kiss them before they go to work. You don’t know what you have left.”

_What the hell…_

Khadgar looked up at him, and Anduin could swear that he had looked spooked the entire time that they had known each other. And you know, he really didn’t have time for this. Anduin dealt with death and violence every day, and Khadgar was this soft little puppy who took nice pictures and from the ten words they had shared, he was smart. He had this sort of wisdom that impressed the older man. And...well, Anduin didn’t have much to lose.

“So I know we’ve spent about two hours with each other, but--I mean, you’re--” Shit, how had he managed this with his late wife? He had time then, maybe, before he went into the police academy. 

“Nervous.”

“What?” That was unexpected. Khadgar looked at Anduin with strength in his eyes, pinning him in the inky dark (or dark meaning the color of bad orange juice. It was a Denny’s parking lot, after all).

“You wouldn’t think of it, what with me volunteering to go get pictures at a drill where there’s guns and shooting. It’s interesting to me. Scary, but interesting. I do it because I want to learn about what it’s like. Curiosity, and stuff. And I’m a mess over here.”

Silence passed between them until Anduin responded with a definitive, “Fuck it.”

Anduin leaned forward, closing the distance between him and Khadgar. The taller man rolled off of his car, and so it was easy for Khadgar to fist his hands into Anduin’s jacket and pull his torso up but still pin him to the car with his hips. Their lips met half-way up, and Anduin responded with a surprised ‘oof.’

Their positioning was awkward. Anduin's back was digging into the passenger door handle. 

Khadgar was historically bad at kissing, but Anduin was so used to taking care of situations that he immediately surged upward and flipped them over, his hands digging into Khadgar’s hips. Their lips were insistent on one another as if they were trying to subdue one another. 

The moan came suddenly from the shorter man and he reached his hands up and tugged at Anduin’s hair. 

“And so you get off on danger, huh?” Anduin’s words flew out as Khadgar broke off to kiss down his neck and nuzzle into the taller man. Anduin had his fingers on the photographer’s chin and pulled him up for another kiss that Khadgar nearly pounced on him for.

“Get a room, ya queers!” Some shit stain had come out of Denny’s and decided that it could open its mouth.

A switch had been flipped. Anduin shoved Khagar into the car a little harder than was necessary and the younger man grunted in pain. The police officer was grinning at his new lover and a spark of adrenaline-fueled focus in his eyes made Khadgar’s breath hitch.

“You could say that,” said Khadgar, the sound coming out of his chest like an animalistic growl. 

So when Anduin took after the guy who had yelled at them, Khadgar was close behind, because there was no way he was going to let Anduin have _all_ the fun.


End file.
